A card carrying devices for carrying out stacked cards successively has been known which includes a stacker where a plurality of cards whose thickness is uneven like an embossed card is stacked, and a card carrying-out means having a card carrying-out portion which is arranged so as to face the stacker in a freely reciprocated manner and which is capable of engaging with the rear edge of a card at the lowest position to carry out the card from a gate opening (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 10-154209 (First Reference)). The card carrying device includes a vibration applying member which causes the under face of a succeeding lowest card stacked in the stacker to push up and drop down to apply vibration to the cards in the stacker during a time period after the card carrying-out portion has finished card carrying-out operation and before it starts the next card carrying-out operation. In this manner, a card can be ejected without being caught by a card positioned on its upper face.
In the card carrying device described in the First Reference, whenever a card at the lowest position is carried out one by one, vibration is applied to other stacked cards. Therefore, remaining cards in the stacker go down to the lowest position without being caught by the inner wall face of the stacker. Therefore, according to this card carrying device, it is thought that cards can be accurately carried out one by one even when the card is a card whose thickness is uneven like an embossed card. In this card carrying device, the card which is carried to the gate opening is further carried with a pair of rollers which are disposed near the gate opening.
Further, a card carrying-out mechanism for carrying a plurality of cards which is stacked and accommodated in a stacker in a card reader as described above has been conventionally used. In the card carrying-out mechanism, a card carrying-out part for protruding toward a card from a bottom face of the stacker is provided and a card carrying-out member is moved in a card carrying-out direction by means of that the card carrying-out part is driven by a chain or a feeding screw shaft which is connected to a drive source, and a plurality of cards stacked in the stacker is carried out one by one from the lowest position in the carrying-out direction toward the gate opening.
In the structure described above, a card carrying-out member which is provided with an upper face part for abutting with the under face of a rear edge of a card to be carried out and an engagement part for engaging with the rear edge of the card is used to carry out the card to the outside of the stacker (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 9-185685 (Second Reference) and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 10-124620 (Third Reference)).
However, in the card carrying device as described in the First Reference, the vibration applying member for pushing up other stacked cards from the underside moves downward along a sprocket for driving the vibration applying member before a card at the lowest position has been completely carried out from the stacker by rollers. Therefore, other stacked cards drop down and press the card at the lowest position that is on the way of being carried-out and thus a frictional force applied to the card at the lowest position is increased because a load is applied from the upper side and, as a result, the card may not be carried. Especially, in a card formed in a flat surface like a card without embossment, a frictional force becomes larger due to the cards being stacked and thus a malfunction that the rollers are idled and the card is not carried out may occur.
In order to prevent the malfunction, the number of cards to be stacked in the stacker is required to be reduced and thus cards are required to be put into the stacker frequently.
Further, in the card carrying-out member of the card carrying device described in the Second Reference, since the rear edges of cards are repeatedly engaged with the engagement part of the card carrying-out member, the engagement part wears. Therefore, dusts such as wear pieces of cards may be jammed in a portion where the upper face part of the card carrying-out member and its engagement part intersect each other at a right angle. Alternatively, the engagement part may be worn by engagement with the rear edge of a card to cause the engagement part to be formed in a round shape. As a result, engagement between the engagement part of the card carrying-out member and the rear edge of a card may not be performed surely.
Further, a card carrying-out operation in the above-mentioned card carrying device is performed such that the card carrying-out member is fixed to a driving member, which is structured with complicated components such as a guide plate, a feed screw shaft and a guide bush, and the card carrying-out member is reciprocatedly moved in the card carrying-out direction. Therefore, the card carrying device becomes complicated and the number of component parts and the size of the device are increased.
On the other hand, in the card carrying device described in the Third Reference, vibration occurs in the device at the time of driving of a drive source which drives a card carrying-out member. In order to prevent the shift of a position or an attitude of a card due to the vibration, a load member is arranged for applying an urging force which is stronger than a carrying-out force of a card carrying-out member in a direction perpendicular to a card carrying-out direction or from the under side of a bottom face of a stacker, and the position or the attitude of the card is corrected near the gate opening and the card is carried out. However, since the load member which is an extra structure is used, the number of component parts is increased and the structure of the device becomes complicated and, in addition, cost increases.